


Rust and Stardust

by rxthlessly



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Female Lead, Rey - Freeform, Star Wars - Freeform, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi - Freeform, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 07:35:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13542708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxthlessly/pseuds/rxthlessly
Summary: A terrifying Commander and a peculiar girl ravage the galaxy, searching for their own idea of the truth.





	1. Emergence

**Book I: Shelter**

Chapter I

If this was being dead, then it wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

There was darkness and quiet, save the faint tinnitus that seemed to have always existed. Considering the noisy and restless life on Coruscant, this really should be considered a vacation. I mean, the ringing in the ears could take it down a notch, but there’s no use in complaining about things you can’t fix.

Maybe now I’ll find out if I’m Force-sensitive or not, I thought with a smirk. Or if the Force is even real.

The truth was on the cusp of revealing itself. Any moment now, some spirit of a Master Jedi should be waiting for me with open arms. Or Darth Vader’s specter waiting with his red saber in hand. I wasn’t entirely great during my twenty-two years of existence. Either way, bring it on death. Show me what you got.

Apparently, death can read thoughts and was up to the challenge, as my head slammed against something solid. A hollow, metallic thud tore through my brain, momentarily displacing the soft tinnitus. Of course, a much louder and higher pitch took place in its wake. I guess it was safe to assume that I did not make the cut for a happy, eternal life.

I took a moment to ponder which of my actions lead the powers-that-be to decide to send me to Hell. There was the cheating and alcohol smuggling at Uscru, the occasional white lie to extend curfew when I was younger, but nothing out of the ordinary. There had to have been a mistake.

* * *

“Orrin.” A voice called my name. It was faint, distant, masculine.

“Orrin. Orrin Fireith. Can you hear me?” The voice grew louder, as if the person speaking was approaching. It sounded urgent. “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me. Orrin - ” Now the person was running towards me, their voice practically screaming in my ear. The tinnitus joined in, and together the cacophonous noises resounded in my brain until –

Turns out, I wasn’t dead after all.

My eyelids flew open and registered the frame of a blurry woman standing over me. Looking to my sides, I could tell I was lying on a gurney. The tinnitus had dissipated, replaced by various beeps and hisses. The woman kneeled down, her face inches apart from mine. She took a hand and pressed it against my forehead, maintaining eye contact with me as she spoke. “Her vitals are all stable. She’s warm, but nothing out of the ordinary. Probably her first time on a ship.” Smiling at the last part, the woman, dressed in nurses’ garb, pulled her eyes away from mine and met with a man on the other side of the gurney. Sluggishly, I turned my head to take him in. He was younger, perhaps thirty. Red hair was cropped behind his ears and pushed underneath a black cap. This must be some official-type shit.

It was then I realized he was gripping onto my left hand. “Hey!” I scolded, pulling my hand away. There was a sharp tug; both my hands were pricked with needles connected to intravenous tubes. The sudden movement and speech made my temple throb. Wincing, I sat up and scanned the room. Propped up on a stirrup was my right leg, a plaster cast molded to it.

“Ah, um, Ms. Fireith, you shouldn’t – ” The nurse began.

The man shushed her. “Let her take a look. She has the right to ask questions.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll take your word on that.” I said quietly.

Evidently enough, I was in a hospital with a fucked up leg. How it happened was completely beyond me.

The man’s curt speech cut off my train of thought. “You sustained a blaster injury in your right calf from a Rebel.” He nodded towards my injury. “A Resistance troop invaded your neighborhood. Luckily enough, our craft was docked near by. Our medical team took you in immediately.” The man raised his eyebrows, reinforcing his stiff stance. “You are safe here.”

“A Resistance troop?” I pushed myself up so I was nearly face-to-face with the man, despite pleas from the nurse not to. The name had sounded familiar, hopeful; and yet, shrouded in mystery. The Rebels. The Resistance. Was I supposed to already know who and what those were? Who were the Resistance, and why were they firing at me? “I - I don’t understand. I...” I closed my eyes, rubbing them with the palm of my hand. Why can’t I remember any of this happening?

The man answered my question before I had the chance to ask. “The blaster wound left you unable to move. Not too long after, the Resistance detonated a series of magna bombs. The utter force of the explosions appeared to have launched you into a wall.” He looked over towards the nurse, signaling her to continue.

“The collision caused internal bleeding in your medial temporal lobe. I wouldn’t be shocked if your memories regarding the last year, more or less, have become impaired.” She gazed down at her feet. “I’m sorry.” The nurse turned to face the glowing screen behind her. After a few strokes of her finger, several scans of a brain flashed one by one, openly displaying like a deck of cards. The nurse began a thorough explanation of what exactly had gone wrong with my head, complications, and rates of recovery. Trying to pay attention to her was nearly impossible. Her voice was silent in comparison to the ones screaming in my head. Why was the Resistance attacking my home? Where am I? Do my parents know I’m here? Are my parents...

“Did you see a man and a woman there? At the neighborhood. Oberlin and Magdalene Fireith?” My heart was in my throat, my head swimming in confusion and incoming vertigo. It was an incredibly vague, stupid question.

A pause engulfed the room.

The man gestured for the nurse to exit.

Readjusted his weight from one leg to the other. Looking clearly uncomfortable.

“You were the only survivor.”

That doesn’t mean they’re dead.

They could have been at home, listening to a radio broadcast like they always did, horrified by the Resistance’s attack.

Worried about where I was.

That doesn’t mean they’re dead.

“So, there’s still hope.” I said, watching the man shuffle.

“Your father was the one who gave us your name,” the man clasped the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “It was the last thing he said. Your mother thanked us and followed suit.”

The room went white. The man was speaking, but the noise was garbled, as if we were underwater. My parents were dead, and I can’t even remember it happening. My eyes rolled back in my skull, and all was dark.

Then, turbulence.

I came to, and the room was shaking. Vials were smashed; my hands were freed of the tubes attached to them. Blood was smeared across my shirt. The man was standing spread-eagled against the door, eyes wide and mouth open. Staring at me.

“Control yourself!” He commanded, his tone a guttural yell.

Suddenly, I felt like I had been punched square in the stomach. I lurched forward, reaching out. The turbulence stopped abruptly. I leaned back into the gurney and sighed. Tears silently crept down my cheek. The man collapsed to the floor, his chest rising and falling rapidly. As quickly as he fell, he stood up, assuming his original position, completely disregarding what had just transpired.

As if everything was all right.

As if my parents weren’t both dead right now.

He wiped his hands on his dark trousers. Nervousness did not suit him well. Approaching my bed, he stuck out his hand without hesitation. “I think it’s proper time to introduce myself to you. Orrin Fireith, I am General Armitage Hux, serving for the High Command of the First Order regime.”


	2. Warning

“You are currently in Medical Ward 6 of the _Supremacy_.” Hux continued, pacing back and forth. “We are expecting by tomorrow your internal injuries will be cleared, and you will be able to walk with the assistance of a crutch for the remainder of the week.” He stopped in his tracks as he finished, facing me. Noticing my blank expression, he asked if I was all right.

I scrambled through my thoughts to mumble an affirmative. The First Order. The title had struck a cord of fear, agitation in me, without a reason why. It was as if my hands were reaching out to seize the words, but they were just far enough that only my fingertips could graze them.

“God, uh, this is embarrassing for me,” I began. Hux had made such a dramatic introduction, as if I should have already known whom he was.

I didn’t.

“Would you be so kind as to, um, remind me what The First Order...does.” Grimacing more from the awkwardness than the pain, I drew my eyes to the ceiling. Hoping to forget this encounter as soon as it’s over.

Hux didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he grinned and placed his hands on his sides. He spoke as if The First Order was his only pride and joy.

“In the words of our Commander, it is the undertaking of The First Order to remove disorder from our existence to promote the stability and progression of civilization. For reasons unbeknownst to us, the Resistance has made it their mission to deter and destroy any efforts we make to attain this goal. We have been in battle with the Resistance for nearly a year. Fortunately, we lay one step ahead.” Hux crossed his arms. Satisfied. “And no need to feel embarrassed,” he added, “your thinking isn’t as sharp as it normally would be. As I said, those issues should resolve themselves by morning.”

Hux opened the door with a push of a button. The nurse hurried back in, a small cut on her cheek. She saluted him, visibly shaking.

“General, did you feel that? Is there a problem with the ship? A shelf in the infirmary lobby crashed from the turbulence. All our files are in disarray, glass specimen tubes crashed everywhere...” She touched her cheek, frowning at the blood that came off on her fingers. “Oh, no.”

“No need to worry, Jaina, the _Supremacy_ is in stable condition. I’ll be making my leave now for the night. If you need me, I will be in main hangar with the Commander to finalize a course of action for this week.” Hux sighed, seemingly nervous about his evening plans. “Take good care of Orrin. She has quite a day planned for tomorrow.” He nodded at me, an expression of quiet contentment spreading across his face.

As Hux went to exit, he stopped in the doorway to address us a final time.

“And Jaina, that was not turbulence.”

General Hux closed the door, and Jaina prepared me for my first night aboard the Supremacy.

I wondered if it would be my last.

* * *

 

The heat radiating off the red beam was strong enough to burn my skin without touching. Tiny waves of electricity leaped up, down, and around it, hovering slightly, like solar flares. Sweat trickled down my back.

“Take it.” A robotic voice ordered.

Before I had time to react, the lightsaber was shoved into my hands. The two protruding beams at the helm nearly sliced through my sleeve. The blade illuminated the masked figure in front of me. The weapon felt awfully unfamiliar in my grip.

“Upon your completion of this trial, you will be appointed as a Knight of Ren. If you fail, you will be executed.” The figure warned. Despite being unable to see his features, an innate sense told me was a human. He was tall, cloaked in robe upon robe of black, intimidating. He was not a man who goes back on his word.

He stepped to the side, and with a wave of his hand opened a door leading out towards a field. Smoke came pouring through the open doorway, filling my lungs and suffocating. In the distance stood a marble temple.

Rather, the remains of a temple.

Fires ravaged the structure’s frames. A thick wall of ash saturating the atmosphere underscored the darkness of the night.

Children were running out of the burning temple in all directions.

“They are the last of the remaining Jedi apprentices.” The figure gestured to the younglings. The computerized voice caused by the mask removed all emotion from his speech, dehumanized him. A chill coursed through my bloodstream.

“Kill them.”

Looking up at the man, my eyes shifted from one side of the mask’s slit where his eyes should have been to the other. My lips parted to dissent, but no sound came out.

“Do not waste my time.” He threatened.

“They’re children! Can’t we take them in? We can show them the right path, we can –” My pleas were cut off just as sharply as my oxygen.

Clawing at my throat, I was raised into the air until I was at the same height as the man. He lifted a finger as if he was beckoning me to come further. My eyes started to roll and my vision dimmed.

“I see you have made your decision.” He released his grip, and with the same powers, threw me outside. I landed on my hands and knees, my left wrist contorted by the fall. The Force kept me locked in place.

Cape flowing behind, smoke intertwining between his legs and rising up to encase him, the man resembled the devil incarnate as he crossed the field.

“Watch.”

With minimal, effortless swings of the lightsaber, he eliminated the young students one by one. As he pulled his sword out of his last victim, the man shut the beams off. In two long strides, he was standing over my frozen body.

“You are nothing. You are an embarrassment to The First Order, to Supreme Leader Snoke, and to me.”

He kneeled down, reached under my arms, and pressed the inactive lightsaber between my ribs. His face was mere inches away from mine.

“If you see my father, tell him Kylo Ren says hello.”

The red beam was switched on and tore through my chest. 

* * *

 

Beeps and hisses permeated the otherwise eerie silence.

I hadn’t left the medical ward, and I was very much alive. Jaina was gone for the night.

It was just a dream.

Or was it more?

A warning, a premonition?

Despite my failing memory, I knew of Commander Kylo Ren well, as did the rest of the galaxy. He acted more machine than man, and tales of his cruelty were whispered amongst the sects of Coruscant. Information began to fall into place.

I thought back to my initial reaction to realizing I was on board with The First Order. There was fear, anger, hurt. But then, the Resistance was the reason why I was here in the first place. They made an attempt on my life, and succeeded in their attempts on others. The First Order could have left me for dead just as easily. But with someone as terrifying as Kylo Ren as its leader...

 _In times of war, you could make friends on either side_ , my mother had said, _but enemies are everywhere._

Trust no one.

Pushing myself up on my forearms, I examined my leg.

I could probably make a break with this.

The intravenous tubes were no longer sticking my hands. Aside from the somewhat bulky cast, I was free. Escaping the _Supremacy_ was essentially the same as crawling out my window for a night at Uscru, only now with more security cameras, guards, and maybe the chance of risking an imminent death. Nothing wrong with an element of surprise.


End file.
